Unplanned Supper

     Holiday schedules have been askew this year.  Tam had a last-minute house-sitting job that put my Christmas week menus out of sync -- and gave me an excuse to grill a couple of nice steaks for us on Christmas day, a treat that has become rare since meat prices went high during the pandemic.

     The steaks were very good, which I will chalk up to our grocer and the use of hardwood lump charcoal.  But you probably know how to grill a steak to suit yourself, and if you don't, I encourage you to experiment.

     I stumbled into Saturday with hamburger stroganoff fixings -- except for the mushrooms; I'd planned it for earlier in the week, and the mushrooms had ended up as a side for the steaks.  I had a poound of nice ground chuck, carrots and celery left from earlier, and a couple of cans of mushroom bisque.  I asked Tam to pick up leeks; she's not a big fan of regular mushrooms and twice in one week would be too much.

     The ground chuck browned and drained, with a little salt and pepper; I pushed it to the sides of the pan and sauteed sliced carrots (three colors!) in the center, then sliced celery and finally the leeks.  There's a trick to leeks; they're muddy.  You rinse them off, trim them, cut off the root part of the bulb and finally split them lengthwise, rinsing each half from the root end towards the ends.  I chopped them up, added them and sauteed until translucent.  One can of mushroom bisque added moisture and flavor without being overwhelming.  I had mine with a little Peri-peri rice.  It was really good for such a simple group of ingredients.